


Interrogation of Prisoner 2532761

by fireflysglow_archivist



Category: Firefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-15
Updated: 2006-03-15
Packaged: 2019-04-29 06:59:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14467428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireflysglow_archivist/pseuds/fireflysglow_archivist
Summary: Whatever happened to the woman named . . . ?





	Interrogation of Prisoner 2532761

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Firefly’s Glow](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Firefly%27s_Glow), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Firefly's Glow collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/fireflysglow/profile).

Interrogation of Prisoner 2532761

## Interrogation of Prisoner 2532761

A woman is behind bars in a small room, with wet hair, wearing a prison jump suit. 

Christine Louie: "Prisoner 2352761. We had to burn your clothes. Let's see what we have here. 1 purse ... 5 lipsticks." Makeup is rare and expensive in the solar system. "These are so expensive. Where did you get these?" 

2352761: "I'm married to a rich man. He bought them for me." 

Christine Louie: "He said that you stole his laser." 

2352761: "A bad man kidnapped me and forced me to let him into the house." 

Christine Louie: "Your husband said that you kicked him unconscious." 

2352761: "I had to do that. To save his life. Or else the bad man would have killed him." 

Christine Louie: "Yeah, right." 

2352761: "Why would I steal the laser with someone else when I could have done that by myself? The bad man stole the gun and left me in the trash." 

Christine Louie: "Explain it to the judge." She opens one of the lipsticks. 

2352761: "That's mine." 

Christine Louie: "You stole this, didn't you?" 

2352761: "No." 

Christine Louie: "You stole this, and this isn't really yours, is it?" 

2352761: "You put that back, or I'll tell the other guards!" 

Christine Louie: "Who would believe you?" The guard receives no response. "Who would believe you? Do you think this would look good on me?" 

2352761: "No." 

Christine Louie: "This is too good for you. They told me that you smelled like trash when they picked you up. I think they should have left you like that to make it more obvious what you really are. I've seen hundreds of women like you. Do you think that you're going to fool me?" The guard walks up to the bars, and puts on the lipstick, mocking the prisoner. The prisoner abruptly changes her expression and the subject. 

2352761: "Has anyone ever escaped from here?" 

Christine Louie: "No, no one has ever escaped from here, and no one is ever going ..." The guard frowns and slowly begins to put her hand to her lips but does not quite make it and stumbles. Prisoner 2352761 catches the guard. 

* * *

Prisoner 2352761 appears from a door, wearing the guard's uniform. She turns to the door to quietly close it. The figure of another prison guard comes into frame behind her. Prisoner 2352761 is startled as she turns around. 

John Lin: "I'm sorry. We haven't met. I'm John. I'm new." 

2352761: "Oh, hi. The prisoner is sleeping, and I didn't want to wake her. Her voice is slurred, as if she's on drugs, and she keeps talking about how she's a prison guard. She's a real [Chinese word for crazy woman]." Prisoner 2352761 points to her head. "Excuse me, I was late for work and rushed to get here. I need to dry my hair." She walks off. 

* * *

Upon exiting the prison building, prisoner 2352761 comes upon a driver who is picking up uniforms to be cleaned. 

2352761: "I just came to check your vehicle to see if there are any prisoners trying to escape." She briefly inspects the vehicle and asks the driver, "Are you married?" 

Tanner Li: "No." 

2352761: "Do you have a girlfriend?" 

Tanner Li: "Uh, no." 

2352761: "Oh, good." She genuinely smiles. "I mean ..." She looks down shyly. 

Tanner Li: "Hi, I'm Tanner." 

2352761: "Hi, I'm ..." She finds it difficult to read upside down, so she points to the name tag on her guard uniform. 

Tanner Li: "Hi, Christine. May I call you Christine?" She looks up and meets his gaze. 

ChrisYoSafBridge: "You can call me whatever you like." 

Tanner Li's mouth opens, but no sound comes out. ChrisYoSafBridge brushes part of her wet hair around her right ear with her hand and slowly walks up to Tanner Li. 

ChrisYoSafBridge: "I know that we just met, but I feel very attracted to you. Will you please hold me?" 

Tanner Li: "Yes. Thank you." 

As they embrace, the camera swings around them from the back of ChrisYoSafBridge to the back of Tanner Li. ChrisYoSafBridge's face changes from smiling to crying, and she is wearing a red dress, hugging a different person in a different place, in a different time. 

ChrisYoSafBridge: "He hurt me. He enjoyed hurting me." 

Nandi: "Who hurt you, Sandra?" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "Burgess. I can't do this anymore. I hate him. I hate them all. They all think of me as a whore instead of a respectable companion like you." 

Nandi: "They don't treat me much better. If a man wants to see you cry, then let him see your body cry, but do not let him see the real you cry. Bury yourself deep inside yourself. Disconnect your mind and emotions from your body. Never show your true self or your true feelings to a client." 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge sniffs and nods. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "I'm leaving. I can't do this anymore. I just want them to stop touching me." 

Nandi: "Where will you go, darling?" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "I don't know, Mom." 

Operative: "Pause. Who is this woman?" The Operative points to Nandi. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge is sitting in an interrogation chair, with a transparent rod sticking in her forehead. Her recorded thoughts are being projected as a 3D display. Tanner Li is dressed as a lab technician, operating the controls. 

Christine Louie: "She is a registered companion named Nandi who recently died. She looks too young to be the mother, and her DNA does not match the prisoner's. We have no prior record of the prisoner's DNA. We have no prior records of the prisoner at all. We still do not know her true identity." 

Operative: "So the companion was more of a mother figure or adoptive mother." 

Christine Louie: "Yes." 

Operative: "Why do you keep replaying the simulated escape before this scene?" 

Tanner Li: "It relaxes the prisoner, because she has a strong desire to escape, and it shows us where she would like to run." 

Operative: "But she does not run back to her husband, Malcolm Reynolds. Why?" 

Tanner Li: "There is some confusion about that. She does not have many memories of Reynolds as one might expect of a husband. The lies that she invents and imagines cloud the truth. Her clearest memories of Reynolds are fragmented and show him as being kind to her and also physically abusive to her." 

Operative: "Play them for me." 

An image of her kissing Mal appears, then Mal saying, "Honey, I'm home," then Mal punching her, both of them pointing guns at each other, and then Mal taking his clothes off at gunpoint. 

Operative: "They obviously have an unhappy marriage. What memories does she have of River Tam?" 

Tanner Li: "She has no memories of anyone named River Tam." 

Operative: "This is too slow. Hook me up to her mind." 

* * *

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge is standing in the middle of a spotlight surrounded by darkness, in a red dress, not sure where she is. A separate spotlight is on the Operative. The view is from behind the Operative, facing ChrisSandraYoSafBridge. 

Operative: "Hello." 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "Who are you?" 

Operative: "The more interesting question is, 'Who are YOU?'" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "I'm Sandra." 

Operative: "You are the wife of Malcolm Reynolds." 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "Yes and no." 

Operative: "You cannot be both at the same time." 

The Operative makes a sweeping motion with his right arm, pushing ChrisSandraYoSafBridge out of the spotlight without touching her. 

Operative: "What is your real name?" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge walks back into the spotlight, dressed as a prison guard. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "I'm Christine." 

The Operative makes a sweeping motion with his left arm, pushing ChrisSandraYoSafBridge out of the spotlight without touching her. 

Operative: "Do not play these games with me. What is your name?" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge walks back into the spotlight, dressed as Bridgette. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "I'm Bridgette." 

The Operative makes a sweeping motion with his right arm, pushing ChrisSandraYoSafBridge out of the spotlight without touching her. 

Operative: "I have no desire to hurt you, but if you force me to, I will rip the information from your mind." 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge walks back into the spotlight, dressed as Yolanda. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "You are so pleasant. I'm Yolanda." 

The Operative makes a sweeping motion with his left arm, pushing ChrisSandraYoSafBridge out of the spotlight without touching her. 

Operative: "I will not warn you again. What is your name?" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge walks back into the spotlight, dressed as Saffron. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "I'm Saffron." 

Operative: "Tell me who you are." 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge grasps her head in pain. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "No!" 

The Operative pushes ChrisSandraYoSafBridge to the left, out of her spotlight, in the same manner as in the past, and begins to walk forward. The two spotlights move ahead with him, with one spotlight on him and one spotlight on an empty floor. 

Operative: "I have never met someone with so many layers as you, with so many lies and variations of lies. Your mind is like a hall of mirrors. What are you hiding? Show me." 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge's voice comes from off-screen. 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "No! No!" 

The empty spotlight comes to illuminate a vertical panel which looks a lot like one of the panels used on the Serenity to smuggle items. The Operative waves his hand, and the panel slides aside, revealing a little girl dressed in white. 

Operative: "You are not River Tam. Who are you, little girl?" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "I don't know." (In the voice of a little girl.) 

Operative: "Why are you hiding in there?" 

ChrisSandraYoSafBridge: "Reavers." (In the voice of a little girl.) 

Mother's voice: "We're going to play hide and seek, baby. Stay in here. No matter what you hear, don't scream. Don't make a sound. Don't come out until it's safe." 

The panel slides back into position by itself. The spotlight on the panel goes out. The sounds of distant gunfire, distant screaming, and the savage sounds of reavers surround the Operative. The mother is screaming nearby. Two reavers suddenly come into frame and grab the Operative, one on the left, one on the right. In that split second, the spotlight goes out, leaving total darkness. The sounds of gunfire die, but the distant and nearby screaming continues, along with the new screaming of the Operative and the sounds of the reavers. 

* * *

The Operative's face is grimacing, and his body is convulsing in his chair in the interrogation chamber. 

Christine Louie: "What's wrong?" 

Tanner Li: "He is getting massive amounts of feedback. This should not be happening." 

Christine Louie: "Bring him out." 

Tanner Li: "I can't just pull him out suddenly without causing him a lot of pain." 

Christine Louie: "Does that look like pleasure to you? Bring him out." 

The Operative's eyes open wide for a second, his body stops convulsing, his eyes close, and he slumps in his chair. 

Tanner Li: "Let's get him to a hospital." 

Christine Louie: "What about her?" 

Tanner Li: "She's fine. She's not going anywhere. No one has ever escaped from here, remember?" 

A silent tear is visible coming down ChrisSandraYoSafBridge's face. 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title:   **Interrogation of Prisoner 2532761**   
Author:   **Edward Lee**   
Details:   **Standalone**  |  **PG**  |  **gen**  |  **10k**  |  **03/15/06**   
Characters:  Other \- Operative & YoSafBridge   
Summary:  Whatever happened to the woman named . . . ?   
  



End file.
